Young people stuck in aged care homes
Gary Holterman was 27 when a diabetic coma caused
permanent brain injury.
Now aged 32, he's in his fourth aged care home because,
according to his mother Margaret, staff aren't trained to deal with
brain injuries.
'My son has been in an advanced dementia ward with people aged
80, 90 waiting to die - and he's 32,' she told AAP.
Ms Holterman says her son can't tell her where he'd like to live
but his situation is 'desperate' now that he's developed epilepsy
and dementia.
Advocates for people like Gary in aged residential care
converged on NSW parliament house on Tuesday to hand over 14,500
signatures and a submission on improving conditions for young
people in residential care.
The Brain Injury Association began gathering signatures in May,
the same month the NSW Ombudsman released a concerning report on
the deaths of disabled people in care.
Association president Paul Raciborski says 80 per cent of the
2500 people under 65 living in aged care in NSW have an acquired
brain injury.
The federal government's DisabilityCare did not adequately
address accommodation shortfalls, he said.
'The NDIS (Disability Care) will provide the funding but now
it's about providing a solution,' he told AAP.
'The danger is you'll end up as a person in residential aged
care with a cheque and nowhere to go.'
NSW Minister for Disability Services, John Ajaka, on Tuesday
announced a statewide program to help people with a disability,
their families and carers prepare for the move to
DisabilityCare.
References and further information